August 05, 2026

Tessabyte Throughput Test: Finding the Breaking Point Before Your Users Do! (Carlo Zakarian)


Tessabyte Throughput Test:  Finding the Breaking Point Before Your Users Do!

Navigating the sheer volume of network performance utilities can be challenging, given the massive ecosystem of generalized CLI and GUI tools available today.  On this particular morning day, I was on the hunt for an application that could give me a visual representation of the network performance, while executing bi-directional TCP and UDP throughput testing across a customer's network.

August 03, 2026

When the Cable Talks Back And Understanding Your Tools

When the Cable Talks Back And Understanding Your Tools
One of the most valuable skills any network technician can develop is learning not just how to use a tool, but how to understand what the tool is actually telling you. Modern test equipment can provide a wealth of information in seconds, but those results only become useful when you know how to interpret them. A tool is only as effective as the person reading the screen. The more familiar you become with your test equipment's behavior, capabilities, and limitations, the faster you'll be able to diagnose problems and avoid unnecessary troubleshooting rabbit holes.

August 02, 2026

New York High School Deploys $57,000 Humanoid Robot "Sally" to Teach AI, Coding, and Robotics


thetechfirm.com
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape education, Salamanca High School in New York has become one of the first public school districts in the United States to introduce a humanoid robot into the classroom. The robot, named Sally, was purchased for approximately $57,000 USD and is designed to assist teachers by helping students learn coding, robotics, and artificial intelligence concepts. Rather than replacing educators, Sally serves as an interactive teaching assistant capable of recognizing students through individual logins, responding conversationally, and even speaking with a Western New York accent. The deployment represents another step toward integrating AI-powered technologies into everyday educational environments.

July 31, 2026

Linux Essentials for Cybersecurity PDF: Free Comprehensive Guide with Labs for Aspiring Security Pros

Linux Essentials for Cybersecurity PDF: Free Comprehensive Guide with Labs for Aspiring Security Pros

If you're trying to break into cybersecurity, sooner or later you're going to hit a wall of Linux — and honestly, that's a good thing. Most security tooling, from SIEMs to pentest distros, runs on it. This free "Linux Essentials for Cybersecurity" PDF is built to get you past that wall fast, covering everything from basic shell navigation to the deeper security-relevant stuff like SELinux, TCP wrappers, and kernel security parameters. Whether you're a total beginner or already comfortable in a terminal, there's enough depth here to level up your workflow.

What makes this guide worth grabbing is the sheer scope — it's not a quick cheat sheet, it's a full 33-chapter curriculum spanning distros, user/group management, file permissions, storage (including LUKS encryption and LVM), automation with cron and shell scripting, networking services like BIND, Apache, and SSH, and a dedicated security section covering firewalls, fail2ban, GPG encryption, and intrusion detection. Basically, if it touches system administration from a security lens, it's in here.

July 29, 2026

Don't Trust Sketchy Ethernet Cables: How a Quality Cable Tester Can Save You Hours of Troubleshooting

Don't Trust Sketchy Ethernet Cables: How a Quality Cable Tester Can Save You Hours of Troubleshooting
A network is only as reliable as the cabling it's built on, and appearances can often tell part of the story. In this video, I came across a client cable that immediately raised a red flag. One end still had the original factory-installed connector, while the other had clearly been re-terminated with an RJ45 connector at some point in its life. That doesn't automatically mean the cable is bad, but it's certainly enough to justify taking a closer look before blaming solar flares, switches, access points, or client devices.

This is where a quality cable tester becomes one of the most valuable tools you can own. Instead of relying on guesswork, a tester like my NetAlly LinkRunner can quickly verify wire mapping, identify opens, shorts, split pairs, and other wiring faults that can seriously impact network performance. Many intermittent issues are caused by poor terminations or damaged cabling, and these problems often don't show up with a simple continuity tester. Professional cable testers provide far more insight into what's really happening on the wire.

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